Chapter 8: Get Out Now or I'll Charge You Rent

By the time Lu Chen finished washing up and returned to the room, Jiang Hanyan had already fallen asleep. She was tightly wrapped in her cotton quilt like a silkworm cocoon, her breathing steady, her pale complexion showing a hint of healthy color, sleeping very soundly.

He hesitated for a few minutes before stripping off his outer coat and trousers to get into bed. Fortunately, they each had their own quilt, which spared him some embarrassment.

Stretching out on the bed, Lu Chen let out a soft sigh of relief. The communal dormitories at the coal mine were incredibly noisy, making it impossible to sleep well. Coming home to squeeze into a small bed with Dou Dou, even if he couldn't stretch his legs out straight, it had been a long time since he had slept this comfortably.

A faint, sweet fragrance drifted to his nose, making Lu Chen's face heat up again. He shifted slightly outward; even through the thick cotton quilt, he could feel the softness beside him, just like the soft jade and warm fragrance in his arms that night.

Jiang Hanyan let out a sleepy murmur and rolled outward, even turning over so her face was toward Lu Chen. Her breath was very pleasant, smelling just like the cream cakes he had eaten before—sweet, soft, and fragrant.

Lu Chen shifted outward once more, but he had already reached the edge of the bed. He had no choice but to reach out, intending to push her back inward. However, the moment he touched Jiang Hanyan, he was caught by two slender, white arms. The spiritual energy swirling in the space allowed Jiang Hanyan to accurately capture Lu Chen even in her sleep, hugging him tightly and refusing to let go. She even buried her head in Lu Chen's chest, nuzzling him a few times in satisfaction, revealing a sweet smile.

"Let go!"

Lu Chen gritted his teeth, unable to maintain his cold and aloof persona any longer, his face as red as blood.

Jiang Hanyan was sleeping deeply and could not be woken at all. It took Lu Chen a long time to untangle her arms and wrap her quilt back around her, but even these small movements left him sweating profusely from exhaustion.

Lu Chen let out a long sigh, and as fatigue washed over him, he fell into a heavy sleep.

What he didn't know was that Jiang Hanyan rolled back toward him again. The quilt had come undone, and she nimbly crawled into his covers, clinging to him tightly like an octopus.

That night, all three people in the house had dreams.

Dou Dou dreamed of many delicious foods, all made by Auntie Jiang. He ate until his stomach was round and full, giggling happily.

Jiang Hanyan dreamed of many rare medicinal herbs—century-old ginseng, thousand-year lingzhi, ten-thousand-year knotweed, and so on. They were all treasures that were hard to come by even with a thousand pieces of gold, and they were all piled into small mountains within her space. It was wonderful.

Lu Chen dreamed of a volcano. He was immersed in magma, feeling both hot and scalding, as if he were about to be cooked alive. He even smelled a pleasant fragrance, making him suspect he was being roasted.

Dawn broke, and as soon as the rooster crowed once, Lu Chen opened his eyes. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked down to see a certain someone in his arms. Her face was buried in his chest, and her arms and legs were entwined around him in a very shameful position.

Lu Chen gritted his teeth to push her away, and the dreaming Jiang Hanyan was woken by him. She shouted angrily, "If you keep making noise, I'll strike your vital points!"

She hated people disturbing her sweet dreams early in the morning!

Jiang Hanyan hugged Lu Chen tightly again, her "claws" even squeezing his chest a little before she went back to sleep.

Unable to bear it any longer, Lu Chen said coldly in her ear, "If you don't get lost, I'll charge you rent!"

The beautiful dream vanished instantly. Jiang Hanyan's eyes snapped open, and she rolled around before realizing her current shameful posture. How could a shameless flirt like her be doing this?

Like a snail, Jiang Hanyan slowly, slowly crawled off Lu Chen's body. After leaving his body, she squeezed out an awkward smile and explained, "I was dreaming about rock climbing last night, really."

Her sleeping posture used to be very good; why couldn't she control herself whenever she was near Lu Chen?

Lu Chen gave a light snort, not believing her nonsense at all. He put on his clothes and got up to practice martial arts in the courtyard. This set of boxing was taught to him by his grandfather; he had practiced it since childhood to strengthen his body.

Jiang Hanyan covered her face, wanting to die on the spot, but after seeing that her space had expanded, she felt reborn.

The space was now about ten cubic meters, and the spiritual energy was as thick as milk. Most joyfully, she discovered that her body had improved significantly and her mind was much sharper. She reached out to feel her body and indeed found quite a bit of grime.

Similarly, Lu Chen, who was practicing martial arts in the courtyard, also noticed the changes in his body. His movements were exceptionally smooth today, and he felt the "Qi" inside his body grow thicker. This Qi was something he had cultivated over the past two years; it was as thin as a strand of hair. His grandfather had said that once he could train the Qi to be as thick as a thumb, his cultivation would be complete.

But after two years of practice, the Qi had shown no change. Lu Chen had given up hope, thinking he might never reach the realm his grandfather spoke of in this lifetime, but today he felt much more confident.

Perhaps he really could succeed?

"Do you want to take a bath?" Jiang Hanyan asked loudly.

"Yes!"

Lu Chen responded, his gaze toward her becoming even deeper. After sleeping with this woman for one night, his Qi had grown thicker; it shouldn't be a coincidence.

This woman's origins were mysterious, and everything about her was strange. Lu Chen thought about it and decided to stay one more night to see if the Qi in his body would grow even thicker tomorrow.

Jiang Hanyan opened the small lid under the coal stove. This small county belonged to Gan Province and was called Fucheng. The economy was backward and transportation was inconvenient, but it was rich in coal, so the locals burned honeycomb coal.

After boiling a large pot of water, she let Lu Chen go first. A small room had been built on the left side of the courtyard to serve as a bathroom. Bathing was quite convenient, though it was a bit cold in winter, so one had to wash quickly.

Once Lu Chen finished bathing, Jiang Hanyan went to wash as well. Lu Chen glanced at her with a very strange look in his eyes.

Locals rarely bathed early in the morning, and the previous Jiang Hanyan didn't have this habit either.

Jiang Hanyan didn't explain. Her personality was completely different from the original owner's; given time, Lu Chen would surely notice the anomaly. Regardless, they would go their separate ways in a year, so she let him suspect whatever he wanted.

Feeling refreshed after her bath, Jiang Hanyan went to look in the mirror. Her complexion was indeed much better. If Lu Chen stayed at home for a few more days, her health would surely improve even more.

Lu Chen returned carrying a bag of vermicelli. Jiang Hanyan asked him, "How many days are you staying at home this time?"

"Three days," Lu Chen answered, carrying the vermicelli into the kitchen. People in Fucheng liked to eat vermicelli in the morning—soup noodles, fried noodles, or mixed noodles; they were all delicious.

Jiang Hanyan felt relieved; three days was enough. Following behind Lu Chen, she saw him take out the vermicelli to prepare for cooking and asked, "Cooking vermicelli is such a hassle; just go out to eat."

These past few days, she and Dou Dou had been eating soup noodles outside in the morning. It was one yuan a bowl, including bone broth, toppings, and an egg; it was quite a good deal.

"Expensive!"

Lu Chen couldn't bear to say even one extra word. A bowl of soup noodles was only one yuan, but he would need to eat three bowls to be full. Including this woman and Dou Dou, that would be five yuan. A jin of vermicelli was only eighty cents; two jin would be one yuan and fifty cents. If he bought two jin, the three of them could eat very full and save three yuan and fifty cents.

Jiang Hanyan's mouth twitched. Truly, one must be stingy to become wealthy. Just like her boss from her part-time job in her previous life—a billionaire who would haggle over a few cents; that attitude was exactly the same as the current Lu Chen.

Seeing that Lu Chen only took out two eggs, Jiang Hanyan felt a sense of unease and asked decisively, "Who gets to eat the two eggs?"

(End of Chapter)